Solar setup with Intellicenter

[Chgorob1]

When I got my intellicenter in February my solar line was already drained for the winter.

Now that it is warming up in NorCal, I told my pool guy it’s time to use the solar.
He just wants to fill the line and let it run with the filter all summer like it did with old Jandy controller. I thought there would be new programming needed that I was unable to setup (and test) in Feb.
I’m sure just turning it on his way will add heat. However my understanding was with intellicenter you can have it monitor and run the solar so that my gas heater will only have to run if and when the solar can’t get to the temperature desired.
What I’m saying is I thought I had a smarter control now, that could monitor or even predict temperatures and conditions ahead of time, etc. in order to maximize the efficiency of the solar heater and save me energy ($$) regarding the master temp 300.
Also are there times when it’s better to keep the warm water heated on the roof and then dump into pool before swimming? I thought the roof would retain the heat better than an open pool, I could be wrong.
The solar already has an valve actuator installed.

 

[mas985]

Do you have a solar valve with an actuator? If so, then you can do as you suggest. You would connect the solar valve to the controller solar valve port. Then you can set solar on/off temperatures as well as prioritize solar over the heater.

Also are there times when it’s better to keep the warm water heated on the roof and then dump into pool before swimming? I thought the roof would retain the heat better than an open pool, I could be wrong.

Panels only hold a few gallons of water so there is really no point in "storing" it on the roof. Also, heat transfer is more efficient when inlet to outlet water temperatures are small (i.e. high flow rates).

 

[peter_c_morris]

When I got my intellicenter in February my solar line was already drained for the winter.

Now that it is warming up in NorCal, I told my pool guy it’s time to use the solar.
He just wants to fill the line and let it run with the filter all summer like it did with old Jandy controller. I thought there would be new programming needed that I was unable to setup (and test) in Feb.
I’m sure just turning it on his way will add heat. However my understanding was with intellicenter you can have it monitor and run the solar so that my gas heater will only have to run if and when the solar can’t get to the temperature desired.
What I’m saying is I thought I had a smarter control now, that could monitor or even predict temperatures and conditions ahead of time, etc. in order to maximize the efficiency of the solar heater and save me energy ($$) regarding the master temp 300.
Also are there times when it’s better to keep the warm water heated on the roof and then dump into pool before swimming? I thought the roof would retain the heat better than an open pool, I could be wrong.
The solar already has an valve actuator installed.

The intellicenter is set up for solar. You just have to plumb it right, have an actuator on the solar valve and 2 temperature sensors. One on the roof and one in the return line from the pool. The intellicenter will monitor those temperatures and then automatically open the solar valve when there is enough heat in the roof. If you leave the solar system open all the time you will actually cool the pool if you run the pump at night. There are some great guides on how to plumb the solar correctly. I like the installation manual provided with the heliocol system, that explains everything. I managed to do the whole thing myself, though it was several days of labor. I was not confident anyone locally would know how to do this right.